Wedding Rings

Trip report – BHX-FRA-WAW-GDN-WAW-FRA-BHX (long)

Question:

> > I have flown on 20 different airlines over the years and so far the most > exciting thing that has happened is that once we were diverted to > Stanstead > as the Canadian pilots decided to go on strike so they had to put down at > an > alternative airport as all the AC slots at LHR were full and there was no > space on the tarmac for them. > And what happend? Did they give you a free ride to LHR or to your > destination as compensation?

They laid on a fleet of coaches to LHR, from where we then had to get on a National Express coach and head back around the M25 to head back home. > I flew from Newcastle to Dublin once in a Jetstream turboprop. Not very high > altidude and gave excellent turbulence when going through the clouds! The > guy sat beside me gripped the arm rest tightly and kept his eyes shut for > the entire flight!

My fears are totally irrational and seem to kick in when I least expect. Flown from East Midlands to Belfast in one of BMI’s Saab turbo-props a few times and experienced some nice lumpy bits, but that didn’t concern me. Earlier this year I flew from Auckland to Wellington and as usual the approach into Wellington was a roller coaster with wind blowing the plane every which way and all you could see out the windows was the Cook Strait, I just watched calmly, whereas my friend who isn’t usually afraid of flying gripped the arm rests tightly.  The last time I panicked was on a completely smooth flight from BHX to CPH.  I wish I could figure it out!!!

Response:

> I have flown on 20 different airlines over the years and so far the most > exciting thing that has happened is that once we were diverted to Stanstead > as the Canadian pilots decided to go on strike so they had to put down at an > alternative airport as all the AC slots at LHR were full and there was no > space on the tarmac for them.

And what happend? Did they give you a free ride to LHR or to your destination as compensation? > Unless of course you count the fact that I > have one of those irrational fears of flying which means I occasionally turn > white as a ghost at 30000ft and have to spend a little while controlling my > mind and breathing.

I flew from Newcastle to Dublin once in a Jetstream turboprop. Not very high altidude and gave excellent turbulence when going through the clouds! The guy sat beside me gripped the arm rest tightly and kept his eyes shut for the entire flight!

Response:

> I will probably include an "executive summary" myself. But if you think you > can get it shorter, then feel free :-p > I hope my summary is exactly the same as yours however

How about if you write the summary and I try to guess/write the long winded details as I seem better at that

Response:

> I hope my summary is exactly the same as yours however

I hope so too. As mentioned previously it is so much nicer to see some reports that balance all the negative ones that seem to be the staple of most people who bother to post. I have flown on 20 different airlines over the years and so far the most exciting thing that has happened is that once we were diverted to Stanstead as the Canadian pilots decided to go on strike so they had to put down at an alternative airport as all the AC slots at LHR were full and there was no space on the tarmac for them.  Unless of course you count the fact that I have one of those irrational fears of flying which means I occasionally turn white as a ghost at 30000ft and have to spend a little while controlling my mind and breathing.  (This has lead to some interesting flights in the past, including once flying in the jump seat of a Fokker 100 (I think, it was certainly a Fokker can’t remember the exact series) across the Australian Outback as the pilot took pity on me, something that certainly would not happen in these days of heightened security)

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> On the contrary. The OP account was a good read. In fact you will note I > said I may well do the same after my flight

May I summarise that trip report afterwards??? ;-p

Response:

> On the contrary. The OP account was a good read. In fact you will note I > said I may well do the same after my flight > May I summarise that trip report afterwards??? ;-p

I will probably include an "executive summary" myself. But if you think you can get it shorter, then feel free :-p I hope my summary is exactly the same as yours however

Response:

Just a quick reply (probably, as already noted I have never been able to write 1 word when a hundred will so) > Did you ever consider leaving a day earlier in order to have a > Saturday night stay, as this would’ve brought the price down quite > substantially? Also, I think the most convenient routing would be > taking SK BHX-CPH-GDN.

I tried all sorts of combinations of Friday/Saturday/Sunday out and Fri/Sat/Sun return and stupidly this was the cheapest (and incidentally the most convenient time wise too).  The main problem was the fact that I only found out the destination 12 days before I had to fly so most of the best cheap tickets had already gone. As for the routing via CPH would have been my first choice (I did this last year when I went to WRO (Wroclaw))  But the problem is that to do this I would have had to fly BHX-CPH on the Friday night, then overnight in CPH (what a hardship) then fly to GDN on either the Saturday or Sunday, then the return would have had to be on the following Sunday, as the flight to CPH on Friday left too early (I spent the morning at work so as the flight combination I took started at 16:30ish, I was able to do that and get home that day)

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->A good read. But for those who don’t have time to read it all. Here is a >summary: >Went from BHX-FRA-WAW-GDN and back again. No problems. >.end. > Do you advocate only posting trip reports where something goes wrong or > something bad can be said about an airline? Such reports as that posted here > help to balance the prejudice view you get from reading newsgroup where most > only post to complain.

On the contrary. The OP account was a good read. In fact you will note I said I may well do the same after my flight

Response:

>A good read. But for those who don’t have time to read it all. Here is a >summary: >Went from BHX-FRA-WAW-GDN and back again. No problems. >.end.

Do you advocate only posting trip reports where something goes wrong or something bad can be said about an airline? Such reports as that posted here help to balance the prejudice view you get from reading newsgroup where most only post to complain. — Lansbury www.uk-air.net FAQs for alt.travel.uk.air newsgroup

Response:

 A good read. But for those who don’t have time to read it all. Here is a summary: Went from BHX-FRA-WAW-GDN and back again. No problems. .end. Maybe I will post an account of my NCL-LHR-IAD-SEA-IAD-LHR-NCL trip next month.

Response:

>  A good read. But for those who don’t have time to read it all. Here is a > summary: > Went from BHX-FRA-WAW-GDN and back again. No problems. > .end.

and I thought only women were bitchy

Response:

> find the best price (I eventually got the airfare for a little over 500GBP > through opodo, whereas every other source wanted in excess of 1000GBP.  The > only disadvantage was the routing having 2 changes)

Did you ever consider leaving a day earlier in order to have a Saturday night stay, as this would’ve brought the price down quite substantially? Also, I think the most convenient routing would be taking SK BHX-CPH-GDN.

Response:

I thought it was about time that I stopped just reading the reports and messages on this newsgroup and got around to participating (especially as this account will only be valid for a month more and so I don’t really care how much junk it generates (if anyone is silly enough to select it in the future then it will be their problem!!!)) Last week saw me travelling to Poland for what has become an annual trip to do some training for a client, each time they select another part of Poland for me to visit with them (so far they have taken me to Poznan, Wroclaw, Karpacz and this year to the seaside – Gdansk)  And as with previous times they spring the location on me at fairly short notice so it took me a while to find a value for money routing – in fact this year it took me about 7 hours of trawling through various online and traditional travel services to find the best price (I eventually got the airfare for a little over 500GBP through opodo, whereas every other source wanted in excess of 1000GBP.  The only disadvantage was the routing having 2 changes) So headed down to Birmingham early on Sunday morning to check in for the 0655 flight to FRA (being English and used to having to arrive at the airport a number of hours before the flight we got there for a little after 0500)  Checked in and received the boarding passes for all three flights and watched as my baggage was slowly sent down the belt hoping that it would also make it all the way to Gdansk.  Sat down and had breakfast before slowly making my way to security.  As usual at BHX after checking the boarding cards you join one of 2 queues to head through the metal detector and send your hand baggage through the x-ray machine, as usual I ensured that anything even vaguely likely to set off the metal detector was in my jacket pockets which I sent through the little metal tunnel to be examined on the little screen in false colour.  Still managed to set off the alarm (forgot my watch, and as I wear a wedding ring and glasses it had to be one of these things as there was no other metal anywhere on my person, the shoes I was wearing didn’t contain any metal either (I know, they have been wanded often enough)) so had to be quickly wanded down, then it was through to the departure lounge where I spent 15 minutes or so wandering around in circles ignoring the shops as they never have anything of interest (in the UK anyway) and anything that is of interest can be bought cheaper by ignoring the high street (which the shops in "duty free" generally base their figures on) and buying it from a specialist shop. Flight 1 : 1st June 2003 (I would put 1/6/03, but that would cause so much confusion across the Atlantic with each side thinking it was a different date) BHX – FRA (Birmingham International to Frankfurt) LH4537.  Aircraft 737-500 (reg: D-ABJC).  Scheduled boarding time (according to the boarding pass anyway) 6:25 for a scheduled departure of 6:55, actual time called to board 6:33.  As BHX likes to keep the gate numbers secret until boarding time (to ensure you spend more money in the shops and thus generate more income for the airport) there was a sudden surge of people heading towards the corridor heading down to the gates.  Once we arrived at the gate we then had to stand in a queue to have our passports and boarding passes checked before making our way down the airbridge to the waiting plane.  Initially I was given seat 15D and a dear old couple came along having been given seats 15E/F, but as the plane was half full once boarding was complete the flight attendant asked if I would like to move to row 14 as there was no-one in seats A/B/C (strangely enough I didn’t decline this offer)  Push back occurred at 6:57 and we were up in the air at 7:07.  As usual (thankfully) the flight was uneventful with a snack being offered once we reached cruising altitude (which the captain said was 33,000ft) – being in cattle class it was the usual Lufthansa choice of either a cheese or turkey roll followed by drinks being offered twice (and being a full service European airline they offered soft and alcoholic drinks even at this hour of the morning).  Our routing took us down towards London then quickly across the channel to Brussels before heading into FRA.  Touch down occurred at 9:22 local time (the time at FRA is one hour ahead of BHX).  As we were hurtling down the runway slowing down we passed about 30 USAF cargo planes sitting on the tarmac at the edge of the airfield (I believe they were Globemasters, but I am not all that up on the larger military planes).The plane then taxied to terminal A where we hooked up to an airbridge, but were told we had to depart by the rear doors to a bus which would take us to the terminal.  As the plane was only 50% full the bus wasn’t crowded and was filled quickly so we were able to make our way to terminal B on the roadways along the edge of the terminal buildings. Flight 2 (still) 1st June 2003 – FRA-WAW (Frankfurt – Warsaw) LH3272. Aircraft 737-300 (reg D-ABXR) having been bussed from terminal A to terminal B I then had to head back up to the skytrain to go back to terminal A.  When I arrived the flight still hadn’t been given a gate according to the computer screens (all they said was terminal A), but my boarding pass had the gate number already (A57)  So as there was no-one at the gate yet I decided that I would go for a wander along the corridor and look at the shops, but for some reason (still don’t know exactly why) security had divided the terminal in 2 and only passengers with gates beyond (at this time) A57 could continue further (after passing through another metal detector and passing hand baggage through an x-ray machine) So I had to content myself with walking along the other half of the corridor while I waited for the boarding announcement scheduled for 11:05, actual time 11:10 for a 11:35 departure.  just before push back at 11:33 the captain mentioned over the speakers that the plane was heavy that morning and looking around it appeared that the flight was about 90% full (but I still managed to be one of the few people with an empty seat next to me)  Wheels up occurred at 11:33 and we had the second uneventful flight of the day, again a snack was given to us once we had reached cruising altitude (31,000ft).  Unlike the previous flight we were given a small tray of food which consisted of a roll and a small cold platter with cheese ham and a little bit of salad and a Milka chocolate bar followed by 2 rounds of drinks, but most surprisingly of all we had metal cutlery.  The routing took us from FRA over Prague and then into Warsaw.  We touched down at 13:05 and made our way to the terminal building where we hooked up to an airbridge and headed for immigration and customs.  (As I was unsure as to what would happen to my baggage as the next sector was a domestic one I waited at the baggage carousel for my bag to arrive, but when it didn’t I asked an airline employee and was told that it would be sent through to Gdansk and that I would clear customs there)  So headed across to the domestic terminal. Flight 3 1st June 2003 – WAW-GDN (Warsaw to Gdansk) LO3813.  Aircraft Embraer 145 (reg SP LGF)  Went into the domestic terminal to be confronted with an x-ray machine and as there was a queue joined it and passed my hand luggage through it, on the other side of the x-ray machines there was the check-in desks and then another queue to pass hand-baggage through another x-ray machine and a metal detector (usual trick of placing everything in my jacket, but this time didn’t set off the alarm) and now I entered the departure lounge off to one side were 2 gates (well doors in the glass airside frontage) and a room which was smaller than some class rooms I have seen.  Sat down for 20 minutes or so waiting for the boarding call which was scheduled for 14:20 but actually occurred at 14:30 so we filed out to a waiting bus which then proceeded to do nothing until 14:40 (10 minutes before scheduled departure)  push back occurred at 15:12 (strictly as we were on a remote(!) stand we just thrust forward and went onto the taxiways) wheels up at 15:19.  Again another uneventful flight, but this time I have no information as the cockpit was strangely silent only talking once when we were on the ground, as this was a short hop we weren’t all that high (probably in the high teens ft)  The flight appeared to be 100% full (I couldn’t see any spare seats) but as this was a regional jet and the seating configuration is 1-2 I had no-one crowding me in.  We were served a quick snack which was simply an individually wrapped packet of 2 Delicje (similar to Jaffa Cakes in the UK) and a choice of drinks.  touched down at 15:54 and as Gdansk is a small regional airport we were at the terminal at 15:56.  We were then bussed to the terminal where they dropped off domestic passengers first and then drove about 50m to another entrance and dropped off the people who arrived at Warsaw on international flights.  My bag was already waiting for me on the carousel (I had seen it come off the plane and speed past while the domestic passengers were getting off the bus, it is one of the great advantages of having a bright yellow hard-shell case, you know it is there when you catch a brief glimpse of the baggage trucks) Now for the return: Flight 1 6th June 2003 (I could get away with writing 6/6/03 as it makes no difference, but for consistency I will use the long formal method) GDN-WAW (Gdansk to Warsaw) LO3814.  Aircraft ATR 72 (reg SP-LFH) (this flights was operated by EuroLot)  Arrived at check in and got boarding passes for all the flights and said goodbye to my baggage hoping it would also make it through the 2 connections. (Had a problem getting my AirNZ airpoints card to register on the genuine Lufthansa flights, so will have to send my boarding passes in when I get the chance)  Headed upstairs to the departure floor and sat in a small viewing area as the … read more »

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